FCT residents observe Good Friday

Nigerians in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Friday observed Good Friday, as part of the spiritual event of the Holy Week when Christ endured the passion of his crucifixion and ultimately offered up His spirit to save mankind.

Residents who spoke on the significance of the day, said that they would obey God’s instruction of love and service like Jesus Christ.

An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expert, Chijoke Ijeh, said that Good Friday invites Christians to recognize the significance and centrality of the cross as the symbol of a loving sacrifice.

He said that Christ endured His suffering to the end and this should teach Christians an unending lesson in coping with pain and suffering for a good cause, asserting that the relief from hard and evil times is not achieved by the idle rejection of suffering, but in recognizing and accepting that suffering taken upon oneself in love can oftentimes be salvific.

“Today is Good Friday, a day Christians all over the world commemorate the passion and death on the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Many Christians spend this day in fasting, prayer and meditation on the agony and suffering of Christ on the cross,” he said.

A teacher, Moses Alechenu, described Good Friday as the day of the crucifixion and death of Jesus and an opportunity for Christians venerate the cross, saying that “I cannot wait to go forward and kiss the cross in order to show honour and respect for Christ’s sacrifice for our sake.

“There is no consecration of the Eucharist on this day and the communion we receive will be from the night before, which has been reserved in the tabernacle,” he explained.

However, a civil servant, Mrs. Tabitha Bulus, said Good Friday being a public holiday is not an opportunity for Nigerians to lose themselves in reveling with great abandon.

Rather, she stated that “it is a day to meditate on the paradox of Christ’s suffering as a precursor of good tidings. It is a day of reflection and sobriety, a day to rethink the true value of the cross of Calvary on which the Christian faith is grounded and a day to redirect the energies of all Nigerians wholly toward a new dedication to promoting the ultimate prize of salvation that Christ has bequeathed.

Bulus prayed that as Nigerians enjoy a happy celebration of Good Friday, may the lessons of love and sacrifice so vividly taught by Jesus Christ find a fertile ground in their hearts.